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Adrift
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Over the Blue

Over the Blue

Description:

I took this photo while hanging out of the back of one of our helicopters taking photos of the other two flying in a very tight formation. Every time my squadron sends a detachment to Africa we make time to pay our respects to the Marines and friends we have lost in training accidents here. We have lost several Marines, two Air Force Airmen, and four of this type of helicopter while training here over the last 10 plus years. On this flight our detachment along with others that wanted to pay their respects flew to the wreckage of the two helicopters that were erroneous bombed by the Air Force to lay a wreath and say a prayer. From there we flew to the site of where the other two helicopters collided over the Gulf of Tadjoura. The ravages of time and the sea have reclaimed the wreckage, however we have not forgotten them.

I took this photo with Portra 400 because I wanted to keep the shutter speed as high as I could to try and get a good clear photo. Everything shakes on these things. After the flight I attempted to develop the film with a press kit. But I botched it badly, and waited a few days to regroup and develop the batch of film with this photo. The main issue I had to deal with was this was my first time developing any kind of film, and in Africa I did not have access to running water, let alone hot water to mix chemicals. So I had to get creative... I found a griddle and with the help of a sketchy looking power transformer (it's 220V here and the griddle was 120V) I had heat. I borrowed a large serving dish from the chaw hall and grabbed a few cases of bottled water. I filled the dish half full with water and started to get everything up to temperature. But then my transformer died. So I no longer had any way to heat the water. I figured I might as well just try and give it a shot. Looking at the development chart in the kit I made my best guess for developing at 65F. I came up with something around 22-25 minuets for development. I'm sure if I could have held the proper temp, and had running water this would have turned out better. But I like the way it turned out. It's got the feel I like as well. It's not the best shot but all things considered I feel lucky that it even came out.